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Bishopric of Schwerin
The Bishopric of Schwerin was a Roman Catholic diocese based in Schwerin in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It existed from 1150 until 983, although the last Catholic bishop converted to Lutheranism in 1540. The establishment of the Diocese From the 6th Century onwards, the region around Schwerin had been occupied by the Wends, of which the Obodrite tribe occupied the western areas and the Lusici the eastern. The Emperor Charlemagne forced both tribes to pay him tribute after his conquest of Saxony, but after his death the tribes were again independent. King Henry I (916 - 936) again managed to extract tribute from the tribes in circa 928. Otto I the Great divided the region into two separate margraviates and divided the region between the Bishoprics of Havelberg, Brandenburg and Oldenburg. After the Emperor Otto II's defeat in Calabria in 982, the Wends rose in revolt and all traces of German civilisatin were thoroughly destroyed. The Bodriches under Prince Mistiwoi sacked Hamburg and plundered as far as the River Milde. The Emperor Henry I (1002 - 1024) managed to ally with Mistiwoi and the Lusici against Duke Boleslaw I of Poland. The Archbishops of Hamburg worked tirelessly to convert the Wends but, despite the conversions of the Wendish princes Mistiwoi, Udo and Ratibor, Christianity won little popular support due in no small part to the heavy tributes demanded by the Dukes of Saxony. Prince Gottschalk, the son of Udo, helped establish the Bishoprics of Ratzeburg and Mecklenburg. But the followers of the old religion killed Gottschalk in 1066 and quickly plundered the entire country and modern Schleswig-Holstein. In 1093 Gottschalk's son Henry managed to take over the entire state of the Wends following the murder of Krutoy. Despite being a Christian, Henry never made an attempt at converting the Wends. The only church was in his capital Lübeck. In 1128 Henry's line came to an end and the Emperor passed his country to his cousin, Duke Cnut of Schleswig, then a Danish fief. After Cnut was killed by his son Magnus in 1130, Henry's nephew Pribislav and Niklot, an Obodrite noble, quickly divided the region between them. Both were in turn forced to recognise German supremacy. In 1150 Hartwig I of Stade refounded the bishoprics of Oldenburg and Mecklenburg. In 1160 the see of Mecklenburg was transferred to Schwerin. The bishopric (1160 - 1648) The dioceses were established before the Saxon dukes had endowed them with enough rights, a fact which Duke Henry III the Lion used to invest the bishoprics. Christian Germans quickly settled in the diocese and the Wends were forced to convert. Monasteries, nunneries and churches were quickly built by the Cistercians, Premonstratensians, Benedictines, Franciscans, and the knlightly orders of St Anthony and Hospitallers, amongst others. Following the overthrow of Henry the Lion in 1180, German power in the north was weakened enough for the Kings of Denmark to force Schwerin, Bremen and Mecklenburg to recognise Danish supremacy. In 1227 Bishop Brunward (1191 - 1238) allied with the city of Lübeck, the Counts of Schwerin and the Archbishops of Bremen to throw off the Danish rule. The history of the diocese of Schwerin was largely dominated by the Dukes of Mecklenburg. Before the Reformation, Schwerin had excellent bishops, a pious clergy and a genuinely Catholic population. However Dukes Henry V and Albert VII were converted to Lutheranism by Konrad Pegel in 1533. In 1536 the Mecklenburg duchy was divided between the brothers and Henry established his seat in Schwerin. Henry remained a devout Lutheran even after his brother returned to Catholicism and his chief desire was to obtain the lands of the Bishopric of Schwerin. In 1550 he had the Cathedral chapter elect his son Ulrich I as administrator. In 1549 the diet of Mecklenburg declared Lutheranism to be the state religion. The monasteries were closed in 1552. Public adherence to Catholicism was outlawed in 1570. Schwerin continued to be ruled as a bishopric until it was secularised as a principality of the Mecklenburg dukes in 1648. See also *Bishopric of Mecklenburg *List of Bishops of Mecklenburg *List of Bishops of Schwerin Schwerin Category:Diocese of Schwerin